::The following words were written by me about my life, they are from my point of view and without censorship. If you have no stomach for the details beyond this point I suggest you put your PADD down and remove these files. I could simply just tell you of my various missions and encounters but I chose instead to write them in a novelization, as to why I cannot tell you anything other then I chose to::
My name is Tho'rel Shran, I am the descendant of Thy'lek Shran. A name few know outside of Andoria or in Starfleet's databanks. But at home, my name carries weight, a weight I hated to have around my shoulders. It was on stardate 68104.7 that I got my first orders as commander of A.S.F.A., or Andorian Special Forces Auxiliary. The experimental program created by the Imperial Guard and Starfleet. Our mission is to conduct tactical operations under Federation command, the members of my team were picked by my own hand for their variety of skills.
The night before the launch of the I.G.V. Vee'lah was an interesting one to say the least. I waited in my quarters on Earth Spacedock where the final upgrades to the Charal-Class Escort was being performed, the Vee'lah was fitted with the first Transwarp drive Andoria has ever produced, along with a Point Defense System given to us by the Federation which was currently being installed. Hryn, my chief of operations would have torn out his hair if he had any left in frustration trying to mount the quad-gimbaled phaser cannons which made up the P.D. System.
Ter'ala, my first officer entered my quarters with a salute, I was engrossed with the duty logs but for her I tossed them aside. There was no breathing person at that time I respected the opinion of more then Ter'ala. She was short, standing at 1.89 meters but she was lethal, both mentally and physically. Out of the unit she was the second best at hand to hand but she scored the highest marks in xenobiology, exobiology and had more degrees then I had scars.
"Commander, may I speak?" She asked in the tone that told me she was concerned. I was wearing my standard duty uniform minus the shirt, my quarters were bare. A bed which was far too soft and a desk. I had the extras removed, humans were fond of them and we were preparing to depart for rough parts of the Alpha Quadrant where such luxuries would not exist for myself or my crew.
"Yes Lieutenant." I replied, Ter'ala handed me a PADD and I examined it, it was our complete orders.
"What!" I shouted, cursing Admiral Quinn with every fiber of my being. "Does he really expect us to escort a Vulcan vessel into the Neutral Zone?" Ter'ala remained as stern as ever, in the four years I have known her I have only seen her smile half a dozen times, the last was when I chose her as my First Officer.
Ter'ala nodded and stood in a parade stance as I vented my anger in Andorian for a few seconds. I ran my hand through my hair and sighed. "Alright, tell him we are prepared to undock tomorrow morning at 0800." She saluted and left my quarters. I had a glass of Andorian Ale and went to bed. I awoke the next morning, donned my uniform and reported to the berth where the Vee'lah sat waiting.
As I walked onto the loading ramp Hryn stood there with his arms crossed and a lopsided grin on his face. He gave me a half-hearted salute but I didn't bother to care.
"Sir, we are ready to depart." He said. Hryn had a large plasma burn on his neck where a conduit in his console exploded years before and he was bathed in radiation that made it impossible to grow hair, he took supplements that allowed him to grow eyebrows and a scraggly beard which was out of uniform standard. I made the concession considering he will never have a hair on top of his head again.
I returned the salute and came aboard, the Vee'lah had a small bridge, enough consoles for the seven crew it took to run the ship from the hardened bridge built in the center of the vessel for added protection, she had special emergency shielding that protected the bridge from most forms of radiation and was designed to survive the destruction of a ship, short of a warp core meltdown. In the center of the bridge was the Captain's chair, the most comfortable seat aboard the vessel. Hryn slapped me on the shoulder and laughed as he gestured to the luxurious chair.
"There she is Commander, your throne." He said with a chuckle, I gave him a look of disdain but took my seat. It was extremely comfortable but I would never let Hryn known that, although i was sure he already did. As I sat down, Thires and Saren stepped onto the bridge from the turbolift to the crew deck. They both saluted and snapped to attention.
"Commander, permission to take our stations?" Saren asked, being the senior officer. She was a Lieutenant Junior Grade, where as Thires was merely an Ensign. He stood at a whopping two meters tall, he was simply the biggest Andorian I had ever seen, but he was young and reckless. His physical strength was great, and so was the speed in which he talked. Saren, looked as tall as a Ferengi next to a Gorn compared to the Ensign. Saren, she was without a doubt the best shot in the Imperial Guard, her first mission was to assassinate a nausicaan pirate on Firaxis Prime, her shot took the pirate in the chest at 1500 yards, longest shot in Andoria's history to ever result in a confirmed kill. At the time she was only twelve years old and in her second year at the academy.
I nodded and the two took their place next to Hryn who was at the helm. The combadge stuck rakishly to my uniform beeped and a voice mired in the thrum of an active Warp Drive cam over the comms. "Shimel to LT." I slapped the combadge and spoke.
"Report." I ordered, a second later she spoke again. "Warp Engines are online, plasma reserves are full and all systems are well within operational margins. We are clear to depart on your orders." The transmission cut and I sat up in the chair. "Give me bow camera." Saren, my tactical officer nodded and the viewscreen went from black to a view of Earth, the human homeworld.
"Retract mooring clamps." I said as I stood, the mooring clamps gave way and the familiar pull as the gravitational effect wore away and the ships grav-plating took hold. "Forward, one quarter impulse Chief." Hryn smiled, he ran his finger along the accelerator pad and took hold of the manual control. A more natural pilot I did not know. "She flies straight and true L.T." I smiled, Hryn had obviously been hanging around the 602 Club for the last few weeks. Once we broke free of the Warp Dampening field around Spacedock Hryn took us to warp eight, right towards the Neutral Zone.
The next day I awoke in my quarters to the beeping of a transmission at my terminal. I slid out of my cot, yawned and tucked the phaser pistol back under my pillow.
"Computer, open transmission." I said to the familiar chirp of confirmation as Saren's face appeared on the screen next to my bed. "L.T. We are coming up on the rendezvous point." I nodded, swept back my hair and stood. "Alright, ETA?" I asked as I donned my undershirt and began to dress myself. "Thirty minutes." She replied, "What's the status?" Saren smiled but i was too busy fiddling with my uniform jacket to notice. "The radiation in the area is preventing our sensors from giving us a clear look but that is the exact reason the Vulcan's chose the location." I remained silent as I dressed, cut the transmission and departed my quarters for the bridge, Ter'ala stood up from the Captain's chair as I stepped off the lift. "Sir, we have sent the subspace message into the Nebula but no response." She said as she stepped down and stepped behind her console. I felt my antenna twitch in curiosity, a gut instinct that told me something was wrong.
"What kind of radiation is prominent in the nebula?" I asked her, she replied without looking from my eyes. "Triollium." She looked down at the readout and began a series of commands, after a minute she spoke. "Sir, if we convert our sensors to phase out Triollium signatures we should be able to see what is inside the nebula." She recommended, I nodded. "Get it done." Ter'ala immediately went to her work. I turned to Saren, "Lieutenant, set all weapons to standby and raise shields." Saren nodded, "Also, try to limit our presence here. Close all plasma vents and turn on the heatsinks." Saren spoke without looking up. "Yes sir."
I sat in my chair and waited, my stomach turning. Twenty minutes later Ter'ala spoke. "Done." I nodded, "On the viewscreen." Just as I finished the nebula popped up and then soon vanished. Other then a few asteroids all that was present was the remains of a Vulcan Dy'kir class science vessel. "Scan the ship." My stomach lurched, I knew this was too easy. "Evidence of weapons fire. Disruptors." Spoke Saren, Hryn looked agape as the image magnified to show the frozen remains of the ship's crew floating around the gnarled wreckage. "Klingon bird-of-prey decloaking! Portside aft!" Shouted Ter'ala, "To battlestations!" I called. Adrenaline flooded into my veins, now we got to really test Vee'lah.
"Bring us about!" I ordered, Hryn jerked the flight stick and Vee'lah's thrusters responded in kind, she flipped on her axis, the wing cannons unfolded and her phaser banks charged. But no attack came. Instead the Bird-Of-Prey remained there. I looked to Ter'ala, "Hail them." I said as I stood, she looked to me and shook her head. "No response sir." I growled, I could not open fire on the vessel. "Sir, I have scanned their vessel. There are ten lifeforms aboard and their weapons match the signatures of the weapons that destroyed the Vulcan vessel." Saren spoke up. Just then, a hail came in. A white haired, one eyed klingon sat in his command chair.
"I.G.V. Vee'lah. I am Captain D'vat, I bring you a message." He spoke firmly, I could tell he would have rather opened fire then negotiate. "Deliver one thousand bars of gold pressed latinum to the planets surface or the Vulcan commander and his senior officers will be executed." Once he was finished he cut the transmission and cloaked. A starfleet Captain would have been worried, I was not. I tapped my combadge, "Thires, round up two containers and arm up. Meet us at the transporter room." He confirmed the order, and we departed the bridge.
By the time we were all armed and prepped, Thires had loaded his minigun and drug the containers to the platform. Saren had chosen her sniper rifle, Hryn his pulsewave cannon, Ter'ala preferred dual phasers but myself.. I carried a long thick blade known as a Tsunkatse Falchion, a weapon I spent the last ten years learning as well as I knew my own body. On my hip was a phaser and slung across my chest was a standard issue phaser rifle. Strapped across my back was the falchion and in my bootsheath was a klingon D'k Tahg. A gift from my first combat mission with the Imperial Guard. I drew the sword from my back, gave it a few testing swings. She was honed to perfection, had an edge that went to a molecule in length and was made of heat treated tritanium and able to slice through a Gorn's scales without effort. The blade sang as it cut the air, it was almost as if it longed to draw blood. I slid the blade back into it's sheath and stepped onto the transporter pad along with my team.
I nodded to the Transporter Chief and before I could turn my head back to it's usual direction I was standing on a lush jungle planet of Traelus, the planet below the Traelus Nebula. I turned around and pointed to Thires and Hryn, "Chief, Rookie, take the containers." Then I gestured to Saren, "Give me landmarks, anything you can see." As soon as the order was given she slung her rifle and drew her knife, sunk it into a nearby tree trunk that was thick enough to hold her and began climbing like a Volkian Lemur. My combadge chirped, "Commander, I see you have arrived. Welcome to my home." Said the voice, I suspected this was the real Captain of the Bird-Of-Prey that was currently holding Vee'lah hostage.
I replied in as stern a tone as I had. "Give me the coordinates to a meeting point, we have your ransom." I replied, not long after the Klingon relayed the meeting point and we marched. Saren slid down from her vantage point and gesture thirty degrees due north. "Ten of them sir, heavily armed but out of range for a confirmed shot." I nodded and gestured for her to fall in. It took us near an hour to lug the heavy containers up and down two hills but once we arrived we were greeted by the voice from my combadge. The klingon was young, very young but he wore no KDF uniform so he must have been a raider. He walked towards me with open arms, a bat'leth strapped across his back. He gestured to my falchion, "I see you carry a warrior's weapon Commander. It is good to see that you are NOT a Federation Pe'TaQ." He said before spitting a wad of spittle on the ground.
"Do you have my payment?" He asked, all hospitality he had moments before had gone in a flash and I saw pure hatred in his eyes. This klingon knew me, he knew a lot for a common raider. "Yes, where are the prisoners." He turned to the klingon woman behind him and nodded, She spoke softly in their tongue and six bound and gagged Vulcans were beamed down behind them. I turned to Thires and Hryn and nodded, "Show them." Thires looked at me cautiously. "Do you disobey my orders?" I asked sternly, Thires look from me to the klingon and the minigun slung at his side. Hryn nudged him with his elbow and they set the containers down and opened them. Inside were rows of latinum bars. The klingons eyes glistened with greed. The Klingons aimed their weapons at us, "Step back Commander." Spoke the leader, I nodded and we did so. Two klingons approached and set a pair of beacons on each container and they were beamed up, then the two furthest Klingon's cut the binds from one of the vulcans and as soon as he did, the female vulcan pulled down her gag.
"It's a trap, they are going to destroy your ship!" She yelled, I tossed my rifle aside and drew my Falchion, Thires double back-handed the klingon that had set the second beacon on his container. Hryn delivered a tooth shattering stock strike to the other's jaw, knocking him on his rump. The Leader drew his bat'leth and charged, I parried the blow but I did not expect his strength, my arm jarred from the strike. He came at me again and I dodged out of the way. I heard a sharp snap as two Klingon's fell, their heads were missing, their necks cauterized from the high powered phaser bolt from Saren's rifle. The remaining klingons scattered, Ter'ala leapt behind a nearby rock and began firing, pinning down two klingons using a dead tree as cover. I heard Thires open up with his minigun and a klingon scream as he was sawed in half by the high powered weapon. The familiar chick-chick-boof of the pulsewave told me the other klingon was dead. The Captain came at me again but this time I didn't dodge, I caught the blade of the bat'leth in the nook on the rear of my blade and twisted, snapping off the part of the blade that was caught there.
A sharp pain dug into my side as the other tip of the bat'leth pierced my side, I smashed the klingon's nose with the palm of my hand and pushed him back, catching his leg with my foot and tripping him over. I put my hand to the wound and checked it, blue blood was all over my hand. I swore in Andorian. The Klingon had recovered and charged again, I was amazed at how despite the firefight around us noone aimed at us. The large klingon came at me with a horizontal slash that would have taken me by the throat but I batted it aside with a two handed swing and jumped, twisted and delivered a hard spinning kick to his spine that sent him face first in the dirt. I tapped my combadge, "NOW!" I yelled, a heartbeat later a thunderous explosion filled the valley and fire erupted in the sky as the chroniton charges I had actually placed in the container, that was hidden by a holo-emitter detonated. The Bird-Of-Prey that was hovering a few thousand feet above the planet crashed into the mountainside and exploded. This sent the klingon Captain into a fury, he lunged at me but I was ready. I feinted and with a hard backswing I took his head off with a clean stroke to the neck.
Once the dust had settled, Thires had sprained trigger finger and all ten klingons were dead. The Vulcan Captain approached me, now holding one of the klingons disruptors tucked into his belt. He saluted me, "You have my appreciation Commander. These klingon's attacked us but their ship could attack while cloaked. We stood no chance." Said the ancient Vulcan, atleast he looked that way. I nodded to him, wiped the blood from my sword on the klingon Captain's tunic and rolled him over. Stuck in his belt was a D'k Tahg like mine, with the exact same crest on the hilt. "That is why he knew me..." I thought, "He is a relative to that General I killed." This time I said it aloud, Ter'ala approached, "Sir, we should be leaving. Starfleet will want us to take the Vulcans to K-7." I nodded, tapped my commlink. "Beam us up."
The next day we docked in at Deep Space K-7, once the Vulcan's were gone I slept easier but not much. Two days later our new orders came in, that is when I knew that we would be getting quite familiar with the Neutral Zone and the Klingon House I had managed to anger.